REVIEW: Prior Overlord

I moved to Whistler over a year ago and paid my dues on a used pair of 2005Rossi Scratch BC 188" I got for $300 /w bindings, waaay better than my 2001 Salomon 1080s on these big mountains. This year I decided to step up to 2007 Volkl Gotamas 183cm. They were better in the powder but something was missing. On 5th day out, I tripped forward in 12" of powder at high speed and broke the tip, it somehow hit the hard pack underneath. They still felt squirrely in the deep stuff and I was still leaning back uncomfortably to keep the tips up, especially at speed.

Enter the Prior Overlord: So after this nonsense, I decide see my buddy at Prior in town (Whistler, BC). I heard good things about the Overlord and now I wanted some real floatation in the deep stuff. So I demo a pair of 193cm over 2 days with about 2' of fresh snow with plenty of knee deep spots.

The goods: First thing I notice is the weight (longer, fatter, stronger) obviously heavier than my Gotamas. It didn't take long I was flying through all the usual tight spots in the trees. The tip is quite long with a low profile curve. The result is that it floats and punches through most anything. They're pillow killers! The tips would poke above and below the powder seamlessly and in and out of tracked/deep powder with little resistance, unlike the Gotamas which I felt plenty of drag when you enter the deep powder (that tripping feeling if you don't lift your tips). So I love the tip design on the Overlord. The shorter effective edge also makes the ski behave shorter than it is. The result is effortless turning in the trees, steeps, anywhere. This is also due to the much better floatation. After a while, I just aimed them at any pillow/ditch in the trees and blasted through everything. They turned on command in the trees & steeps in powder, way better than my Gotamas. With 118mm underfoot and 144mm up front, I finally felt balanced, even leaning forward in the deep stuff at speed. In the bowls at high speed, the feeling of surfing and rock solid stability was the first time I felt this on skis and it's amazing. The only place I feel the weight now are the tight jumping turns on big steeps with obstacles but I still move them around without a problem.

Other benefits: covers so much more terrain in powder. I was first to break plenty of new tracks into and out of harder to get slopes, which many people followed after and thanked me. Worst case if you stall, you can walk almost like snowshoes, very useful in deep glade skiing.

What else? Groomers at mach speed? Hell ya, they are stiff in the right places and you can carve them good. I was only in groomed packed powder though. Chopped crud they feel solid.

I think I covered most of it. I hope this made sense, I wrote this also for those who are stuck in mid-fat land and wondering about making the jump to seriously fat. Hope this helps. Bottom line, I ordered a pair.

Nice review. I have a pair of Originals and still love them. I almost bought the Overlord myself, but decided on the cheaper Movement Goliath. I think you just sold me on the Overlord when the Goliath's wear out....I'll demo a pair soon...

Well, I just got back from riding 50cm (20") of powder this morning.
They're just sick. Did fresh tracks breakfast, was at the rope and when they said go, the stampede was nuts. I easily surfed pass everyone and was first to the chair. Maybe that factory wax had something to do with it.
They handle so nice. What I felt today cruising the deep stuff, is that the flex from the tip to your foot feels bang on.
And the snow just ain't stoppin' for the next few days :-)

Just thought I would add my thoughts on these skis as I know a few people are interested.

They had a demo tent set up at silverstar the other day when I happened to be there and I tested the 193cm overlords.

Bomber ski. Feels like a legend pro but... somehow easier to ski? Im not sure how they managed it but I felt like places where a 194cm LP would boot me into the backseat I was right on top of the overlords. May have been mounting point or something but definitely a solid performer. rails those big arcing turns through anything at mach bajillion. really solid landing platform in pow or even onto flat groomer. much fun, recommend.

Well, I just got back from riding 50cm (20") of powder this morning.
They're just sick. Did fresh tracks breakfast, was at the rope and when they said go, the stampede was nuts. I easily surfed pass everyone and was first to the chair. Maybe that factory wax had something to do with it.
They handle so nice. What I felt today cruising the deep stuff, is that the flex from the tip to your foot feels bang on.
And the snow just ain't stoppin' for the next few days :-)

I got the same feeling demoing 183's in the trees at Whitewater. I wanted to demo the 193, but it was not available that day. I am glad I got the 183 as I was mostly in the trees, but want to try the 193 for Whistler. I had the same experience with the flex and mounting point, it all seemed just about perfect. Really fun ski.

Hey guys, Im really glad you like the skis, I had a big hand in developing the shape, tip rise and camber. We have been tweaking it a little bit for 09/10, with a little less camber and earlyrise tip. I have mounted mine 4.5 cms forward for equal swing weight and versatility. I am so amped on how it skis and can still rip a mogul line on them with easy. Pivot and skid, schmere that turn.

Been meening to post my review of the 183

I have about a month and a half on mine now (25+ days, all conditions).

5'8" 145 lbs and was looking for a burly ripper. I score these from holiday with 2-3 hours on them. I had them mounted with HH's for 3 days and just couldnt flex them. It was easy to tell what these skis wanted to do, Rip..... which I apperently cant do with freed heels. This led me to mount them back up with Dukes.

Since then we have never looked back. Underfoot they are stiff, real stiff, but the tip is forgiving enough for easy deep snow turn initiation. I was initially a bit worried about making this my everyday board thinking 183 cm and 113 mm were pretty big stats for a 145 lb rider. My last alpine boards where 177 cm Nordica Enforcers. It took 1 run after the alpine mount to make these worries fade.

I have skied them mainly at bridger bowl, but there first 4 days were spent in the Jackson side country. The conditions have been all over the board, from dry weeks dodging rocks on the ridge to wind fucked saddle peak and of course our rare powder days.(its puking out right now) I dont really know how to decribe them other they plow through anything in any condition. Think Gotama hooking up with BALCO.

The construction is bomber. I have landed on, skied over and carved through an assortment of rocks. I have bean scared to look at least 10 times now thinking this time is it and haven't had a core shot yet. The edges barely show any signs of questionable line choices.

What impresses me most about these planks is there weight.The tip and tail weight is feather like making them very easy to maneuver in tight places. There total weight is less then my GF 169 obsetheds. The idea of lighter weight combined with serious burl has bean reached. Once i got the over the idea of snowboarders making my skis i began to realize that they know a thing or two making big sticks.

a positive attitude will not solve all of your problems, but it may annoy enough people to make it worth the effort

Next years look pretty cool as well. I saw the prototypes. Less camber, a bit of rocker or at least earlier rise, low rise tip. They look strickingly similar to the new Elan Boomerang with almost identical dimensions. Just a fluke I'm thinking.

McKeem -- nice to see some Prior peeps on here. I'm planning on popping down to the factory soon & checking out the sale, as well as hopefully some 09/10 offerings? I am guessing that some rocker is in the mix for the Overlord?

If Prior wants to make some TGR friends, they should do a little sale here through the board. That would probably have everyone mentioning Prior along with Lhasas, Praxis, Moments, and other handcrafted brands. I know I'd be all over it ;p

The shape on the non-photo images on Prior website does not really remind me of S7. S7 has way longer taper zones on the bulbous tip and tail, and shorter radius. Also, I doubt Overlord will go crazy on the rocker/recurve profile like the S7.

So I'm thinking the closest comparison to the new Overlord design would still be the former Overlord design, although hard to tell from the images. Makes sense to me that they decreased the sidecut on these stiff, fast skis.

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My biggest goal in life has always been to pursue passion and to make dreams a reality. I love my daughter, but if I had to quit my passions for her, then I would be setting the wrong example for her, and I would not be myself anymore. -Shane

I'm gonna go SO OFF that NO ONE's ever gonna see what I'm gonna do! -Saucerboy

"The Overlord’s tip and tail shape have been modified along with an enhanced rocker profile to provide better powder trim and edge-to-edge transition. A squared off tail makes it easier to attach skins for the backcountry and provides purchase ascending steep chutes on foot. We continue to offer a 2-4mm camber in the waist for power, drive and edge hold in harder snowpack conditions. "

This combined with the dimensions sure sounds like the S7. Dont get me wrong though, I dont see that as a bad thing. Sounds like lots of people around Whistler liked the S7 and are just working it to be a big mountain ski vs. the jibby feel that the shorter S7s had. Take a look at the info from Folsom, sounds like that is what they did and sounds like what Prior is doing here..... Thats my $.02 anyway.

From Prior's website....sure sounds like the S7...Sounds like lots of people around Whistler liked the S7 and are just working it to be a big mountain ski vs. the jibby feel that the shorter S7s had...

Sounds great to me no matter how the new Overlord turns out compared to the S7 or old Overlord. The new tip and tail widths changed significantly---no doubt about that. As for rocker profile, I'm just speculating until I can find an actual photo image or fondle a pair. The old Overlord tip was already 25cm (longer than a 193 EHP), so I guess I'm speculating that Prior's "enhanced rocker profile" might be a small change to the ski and a bigger change in their buzzwords (would have been dumb not to update their marketspeak this year from "gradually upturned tip" to "rocker tip" in order to capitalize on the rocker hype).

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Last edited by Vitamin I; 09-25-2009 at 12:34 PM.

My biggest goal in life has always been to pursue passion and to make dreams a reality. I love my daughter, but if I had to quit my passions for her, then I would be setting the wrong example for her, and I would not be myself anymore. -Shane

I'm gonna go SO OFF that NO ONE's ever gonna see what I'm gonna do! -Saucerboy

I live near Whistler and dropped into the Prior factory not long ago. The new Overlord has a significant amount of rocker this year and much less camber than last year. I am looking forward to demoing them.

After a couple hours of intraweb research, and visiting the Prior factory a couple times, I decided to pick up a pair of Overlords, 193cm as my go to ski for this winter.
Me: 185lb, 5'10", 36 yrs old, still pretty agressive, but knees are preventing the big drops of the past. I've lived in the Whistler area for 9 years, and spent the 8 before that in the Kootenays.

The Overlords are mounted with Look PX15s on the line.

Anyway, today was day one on the Overlords. 30 cm of -7 pow on Whistler. Alpine isn't open yet. First run I was surprised at how easy the Overlords were to handle. Really easy to initiate turns. The factory wax sucks though, and the skis were a little slow. At first I thought they were a little soft, especially in the tip, but after a couple runs I kinda hit the sweet spot, and they were feeling pretty sweet. I'm glad I mounted on the line, because they felt pretty quick edge to edge in the trees. I hit Garbanzo pretty fresh, and they loved it. Surfy slashes and straightline mini pillows were super easy. I can't wait to get them on some bigger steeps. I think that's what they'll really love.
So far, I like them quite a bit, but could probably handle a bit more stiffness, and even less sidecut.